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Monday, September 16, 2013

Opinions and Observations: Mayweather-Alvarez and The One

In
the ninth round of the Floyd Mayweather-Saul "Canelo" Alvarez fight,
I was startled by the different types of punches with which Mayweather
initiated offense. I counted a jab, a straight right hand to the body, a left
hook, a straight right to the head and a right uppercut. The
majority of these punches landed and several were followed by quick
combinations that completed flummoxed Canelo. He didn't know where
the shots were coming from and he no longer could mount a responsible
defense.

Earlier
in the fight – in the seventh – there was a wonderful sequence where
Alvarez, with his back to the ropes, was waiting to counter Mayweather. But Floyd kept
his distance expertly. He hit Alvarez with a right hand to
the head, a right hand to the body, a short left hook and then he got out of
range. His punches were sharp and he was completely composed.

Between
the sixth and seventh rounds, Showtime broadcaster Steve Farhood was talking
about his scorecard, which had Mayweather far ahead. He said that he didn't
know why Alvarez was attempting to try and outbox the best boxer in
the sport from the center of the ring.

Throughout
the fight, Alvarez was beaten strategically and tactically by
Mayweather. Electing to trade in the pocket for most of the fight, Alvarez
tasted a lot of leather and hit a lot of shoulders and elbows. At various
points, he tried to win a jabbing contest at mid-range against a guy with superior hand speed and accuracy. Once Mayweather
started moving more in the second half of the fight, Alvarez didn't have the
skill required in cutting off the ring. When Mayweather did go to the
ropes, it's because he decided that's where the action should take place;
Floyd was the one dictating all of the terms. At times, Alvarez was nothing
more than a bemused spectator in his own fight.

Yes,
Alvarez showed adequate hand speed and connected with a
few solid left hooks, jabs and a straight right hand or two, but there was
nothing consistent or sustained. He lacked the technical ability, ring
intelligence or athleticism to take charge of the fight. Whatever tactics
he tried, Mayweather was already a step ahead of him.

I'm
very curious to know what trainer Eddy Reynoso's game plan for Canelo was.
Maybe the plan was for Alvarez not to overcommit early and quickly adjust after
the first few rounds. Perhaps Alvarez was going to grind Mayweather down over
12 rounds? I don't know; I'm guessing here. Ultimately, I didn't see
any type of coherent strategy from Alvarez's corner. The Mayweather team, from
fighter to corner, was just better in every dimension.

Alvarez
will have to learn how to consistently initiate offense when facing
counterpunchers. Against Austin Trout and now Mayweather, Alvarez, one of the
best combination punchers in the sport, mostly threw only one punch at a
time. He needs to realize that not every fighter will come right
at him. Alvarez must be more consistent with his jab. His footwork and punch
output also need to improve. If I were on his team, I would work on
agility drills. His lateral movement needs to be sharper and he should be
throwing 60 punches a round.

I
scored the bout 118-110 for Mayweather, giving Alvarez the 4th and 8th rounds.
However, in both cases, I thought those were frames in which Floyd decided to
lay back and take some time off; Alvarez was only the winner by default. I
thought that all of the judges' cards were too kind to Alvarez. The
117-111 and 116-112 tallies were barely tolerable. By now, C.J. Ross'
114-114 tally already lives in infamy as one of the worst scorecards in recent
boxing history.

Alvarez's performance
wasn't a wipeout loss though. There were many things to build off of. His
defense was very solid at times, especially early. He has excellent countering
instincts even though a number of his best shots didn't land. He also carried
himself well in the ring. Certainly Mayweather was the far better fighter, but
Alvarez didn't let the big moment overwhelm him in the way that it had for
other opponents of Floyd.

However, I
wish that Alvarez would've taken more chances earlier in the fight.
He rarely threw his uppercut (which supports his inability
to control distance) and he very seldom pressed the action. Alvarez tried
to be compact with his shots, but sometimes the key to having
success against Floyd is to mix up the type of punches thrown. I
would've liked to have seen a looping right hand once in a while or a lead
uppercut. Perhaps Alvarez was too uncomfortable to take those types
of risks, but being cautious and patiently waiting to catch Mayweather is
not a winning strategy.

What
else needs to be said about Floyd's performance? To the surprise of many,
he ignored his considerable advantage in foot speed early and decided to take
box Canelo in the middle of the ring. His jab was incisive and he mixed in his
arsenal, especially his left hook and uppercuts, far faster than he has done in
recent fights.

By
the second half of the match, Mayweather's movement, feints and punch
variety were too much for Alvarez. Mayweather completely dominated a
gifted, undefeated champion who entered the ring two weight classes
above him. I'm not sure where Mayweather goes next when he returns, but it's
going to be a tough to find an opponent who has a legitimate chance to
win; Mayweather's that good.

One broadcast
note: I thought that Showtime's coverage was excellent on Saturday with both Al
Bernstein and Paulie Malignaggi having strong performances on the call. In a
perfect world, I wish that the Showtime producers would have shown more
of the corner work between rounds. By my count, we got maybe a round-and-a-half
of Floyd Mayweather Sr. throughout the fight. Now I know that he can be tough
to understand, but finding out what goes on in the corner of the
sport's best fighter is intriguing to me. In addition, there wasn't enough
emphasis on Canelo's corner. Yes, Reynoso was calm, but as viewers we didn't
hear nearly enough.

Showtime
did get a great shot of the elder Mayweather prior to the 12th round. He was
pointing to someone in the crowd and laughing, saying essentially, I
told you this would be easy. And he was right.

************************************************************

After
six rounds of the Danny Garcia-Lucas Matthysse junior welterweight
showdown, I had Matthysse ahead 48-46, or four to two. I thought that Matthysse
had a very strong opening two frames, scoring with pulverizing lead left
hooks. Those shots could've been regarded as jaw-dropping, but to the
surprise of many observers (include me in this category) Garcia just stood
there and took the punches like a pro. When Garcia was hurt – and he was
– he expertly tied up and minimized damage.

Garcia
worked his way into the fight and had a very strong fourth round with some
excellent counter lefts. He had a wonderful counter left uppercut-left hook
combination that showed his expert precision and creativity.

But
by the sixth round, it looked like Garcia was slowing down. Matthysse was
landing his power punches, but more importantly, he was starting to win
rounds technically – flashing his jab to set up shots, moving to spots in the
ring to capitalize on his power and negating Garcia's offense.

In
between the sixth and seventh round, Garcia's father/trainer, Angel, implored
his son to be more aggressive. He slapped the fighter on the ear,
exhorting him to take control of the fight.

Ultimately,
Garcia won the fight with two punches. In the seventh, he connected with a lead
left hook on Matthysse's eye that caused rapid swelling, essentially
shutting the eye for much of the last half of the fight. As Malignaggi
pointed out in the broadcast, Matthysse's corner didn't use an enswell on the
eye, which led to Matthysse becoming a sitting duck for Garcia's hook in the eighth and ninth
rounds.

However,
Matthysse started to shorten up his punches later in the fight. Instead on
swinging for knockouts, he started connecting with compact right hands that
scored in the 10th and damaged Garcia in the 11th. But during an
exchange in the 11th, Matthysse found himself out of position in between the
ropes. Garcia expertly maneuvered himself around Matthysse and landed a
left hook that dropped Matthysse to the canvas – the first time he had
been knocked down in his professional career. The blow didn't necessarily
hurt Matthysse but he fell from the punch and referee Tony Weeks correctly
ruled the sequence a knockdown. Ultimately, Garcia went from losing a 10-9
round to winning a 10-8 round. With two judges scoring the fight for Garcia
114-112 (I also had it for Garcia 114-112), without that punch, Garcia loses
the fight 114-113 by a split decision.

This
was the second fight of Garcia's career where he won as a significant
underdog (the Amir Khan bout was the first). It's safe to say that the boxing
world – including Golden Boy, his promotional outfit – has underrated
his abilities in the ring. Saturday was a perfect display of Garcia's
world-class intangibles. As Malignaggi observed during the fight, Garcia had a
lot of success catching and shooting – he blocked Matthysse's punches and then
fired back with an effective counter. And as Malignaggi stated with
amazement, few fighters would've even attempted that strategy against Matthysse because it
meant staying in the pocket against such a heavy hitter. Yet Garcia's
poise under fire, ring intelligence, self-confidence and patience
have provided him with victories over a number of "superior" talents.

Sure
there were other savvy things that Garcia did. Going low repeatedly against an
aggressive hard charger is one way to slow a guy down. Fellow Philadelphian Bernard Hopkins certainly would've
approved of Garcia's repeated shots south of the border. (However, the old
master wouldn't have condoned the low blow in the 12th; Hopkins hardly ever
had points taken away, despite myriad fouls.) As mentioned earlier, Garcia tied up so
wonderfully when he was hurt that he didn't give Matthysse – or the
broadcast crew – an opportunity to see how disadvantaged he really was for
brief moments.

Under
Angel's tutelage, Garcia has become one of the more intelligent fighters
in the sport. He never beats himself in the ring. Although not a defensive
master, he makes quick adjustments. He has a wide arsenal of punches and a
variety of ways to unleash them. He's become a surgical counterpuncher. Give him enough time and he'll find a way to capitalize on
an opponent's mistake.

Matthysse
wasn't bad on Saturday. He won five rounds on my card, but he could've pulled
the fight out with a better corner. Al Bernstein was correct in stating that Matthysse
was too left hook-happy during the first half of the fight. After
Matthysse had success in the first two rounds with lead lefts, Garcia quickly
adjusted and neutralized that weapon. Matthysse also didn't consistently
use his jab to set up shots and it took him a while to figure out the need
to shorten up his punches. His corner, including trainer and cutman, didn't
help him contain damage to his eye or give him actionable instructions in
how better to win rounds. Part of being a champion fighter is having a
world-class level corner. Matthysse might consider making some changes in this
area.

Matthysse
has now lost three fights by slim margins. All were fights
he could've potentially won (the "loss" to Alexander
wasn't really legitimate in my eyes). Those three outings are the difference
between Matthysse being one of the truly elite talents in the
sport instead of a hard hitter who can be outmaneuvered. Not every
opponent will wilt from Matthysse's power, and when he's had to think
through fights against Judah and now Garcia, his adjustments haven't
come fast enough. He'll still beat a lot of guys and he certainly has
championship-caliber skills, but to be considered the best, a fighter has
to win in different ways. To this point, Matthysse has not proven that he
can reliably beat good fighters who can take his power.

************************************************************

As
expected, the Ishe Smith-Carlos Molina junior middleweight title bout was
awful. Both fighters relied on grappling, holding, elbowing and assorted
other tactics that deprived the boxing public of an entertaining fight.
Molina started aggressively and when he landed, which wasn't often,
he scored with short right hands, left hooks and an occasional uppercut. Smith
just wouldn't let his hands go early and although he stymied much of Molina's
offensive work, he didn't initiate enough to win rounds.

By
the eighth, Smith was successful in creating distance and he scored with right
hands and left hooks. Molina was less anxious to engage and the fight seemed to
be on a trajectory of a "tale of two halves." I gave Molina the first
seven rounds, but Smith picked up rounds 8-11 on my card. It certainly was
conceivable with the amount of inaction earlier in the match that the fight was still on the table for Smith.

But
Molina, a fighter who had been on the short end of a number of decisions
in his career, came out firing in the 12th. Driving Smith to the ropes with
short right hands, he dominated the champion with clean punching. The
announcers wondered aloud why Molina couldn't have fought with the same
type of skill and urgency throughout the fight – in fact, we all wondered that.

Ultimately
Molina won a split decision, with the scores 116-112 (as on my card),
117-111 and 112-116. Somehow Adelaide Byrd's winning card for Smith wasn't
the worst score of the night (thank you again, C.J. Ross), but she clearly
missed the fight. Maybe Smith picked up six rounds with a
generous tally but eight was too much.

Like
Smith, Molina is an easy fighter to root for on a personal level but a
difficult one to watch in the ring. He has good footwork and an understanding
of how he needs to win, but his formula of grappling, neutralizing
and occasional offense isn't thrilling to watch. Perhaps he next gets a shot
against Saul Alvarez. With his style and lack of fan support, he'll need to win
9 or 10 rounds to have any chance of picking up a decision.

************************************************************

The evening's first fight on the Pay Per View card was an unexpected treat, with Ashley Theophane and Pablo Cesar Cano waging a spirited battle. Theophane was awarded the spot on the
broadcast because he fights under the Mayweather promotional banner and was
used as one of Floyd's sparring partners leading up to the
Alvarez fight. A veteran boxer from England with an up-and-down career, Theophane was given a winnable opportunity against a fighter who had just lost to an ancient Shane Mosley.

Early
in the match, Theophane attempted to outmaneuver Cano with his boxing skills
and defense but his strategy wasn't successful as Cano did an excellent
job of cutting off the ring and landing solid left hooks and straight right
hands. By the fifth round, Theophane decided to hold his ground and let his
accuracy work for him. Gradually, he turned the fight around. His straight
right hand landed hard on Cano frequently and he started to work
in combinations with his jab and left hand.

On
my card, the fight was even after eight. Cano, another fighter who
had recently lost a debatable decision on the cards (against Malignaggi), pressed
Theophane over the last two rounds of the bout, hurting him badly
in the 10th. The final scores were 97-93, 98-92 (way too wide) and 94-96, with
Cano picking up the victory (I scored it 96-94 Cano).

Cano
is the perfect "B" fighter in boxing. Take an aging Erik Morales or
an underprepared Malignaggi and Cano can cause all sorts of
problems. He lacks speed, a large arsenal and a true knockout punch, but he gives an honest effort
every time out. Although not really an athlete, Cano has fairly good
footwork and a high ring I.Q. He executes his game plan (left hooks and straight right hands in close) pretty
well. He'll beat a good name or two in this sport before he is
finished.